My Little Preacher

Weekend is that part of the week, which is ideally meant for leisure, spend time with family, friends and very importantly for sleeping. It is like the tiniest speed breaker for you to slow down in this fast moving, routine, neck cutting life of ours. But, here I was totally unaware of the small awakening within me. Gautham Buddha was enlightened sitting under the shade of the Bodhi tree, and here I was in an open sports playground for my Enlightenment.

Saturday, Sundays are usually the busiest part of the week for me; the whole family is at home (mostly expecting some new delicacy on the table each time they walk up to the table). Apart from the usual cleaning and dusting, I also teach classical dance to few kids in the locality. And to add to all this I do get away with little time to roam about in the surrounding area with my husband and kid.

One such Sundays I was out with my spouse and daughter to a sports ground of a renowned college nearby. My husband generally prefers that our daughter plays more of outdoor games as she is just 2 and a half and we make it a point to carry a plastic ball or a football along. The place is filled with a few athletes practicing shot put, discus, etc and few practicing football. Amid all of these huge gentlemen, my tiny little daughter was drifting along the wind to kick her stone weight football. My husband as usual was guiding her and showing her few moves and funny tricks to make her laugh now and then. I generally am just a spectator to the whole show and rejoice the evening breeze. The trees around the ground make it more scenic and beautiful with a drowsy weather that we are experiencing these days.

Suddenly out of nowhere she appeared. I dint see her walking into the playground, probably because I was engrossed in nature’s beauty, or maybe she dint want me to see her. She started playing with my daughter’s football; initially as a typical mother I felt it to be a nuisance. Later I realized she was totally indulged in the play and was helping my daughter learn too. I later called her to know her name. Madhavi.

Madhavi is a happy go lucky street smart sweet daughter of a construction worker. Her mother tongue is Telugu. Both of us couldn’t understand each other’s language but there was an immediate connect between our eyes. She couldn’t get my daughter’s name right too, but she enjoyed playing with the football.

After an hour’s play all were tired and we had to head back home. My kid and Madhavi waved their goodbyes to length. As I was rushing my daughter, I saw Madhavi’s eyes. They were stuck to the Nike football in my husband’s hand. As lightening strikes I realized the pain childhood can give you just for the sake of a ball. Her eyes, which were free of any sorrow or fear so far, only seemed to yearn for this. I realized that though we talk about giving our kids, education, nutritious food, safety, there are loads of kids out there with nothing and no one to care about. Imagine the plight of poor Madhavi if she had to ask her parents to buy a ball. They could not afford regular food properly; let alone a toy to play.

I wanted to give away the football so much, but it was my husband’s favorite. I couldn’t ask him, and not even leave the place without watching her eyes brighten up. That’s when I was enlightened. It is not enough to talk about and feel altruistic, it is about to put things in action and mean what we say. Which again is so difficult? We live in such a society that we cling on to material stuffs and forget our values when it is most needed.

I and my husband went back to the same ground the next day with a new ball we purchased for Madhavi, but we couldn’t find her. We had to leave the ball with the construction workers security head, who assured us that he will hand it over to Madhavi. He was very thankful for our gesture. But I missed the bullet, I don’t know whether it actually reached her, I missed the glitter in her eyes.

 

Divine Gift……

                                            

    How does it feel to be spiritual? Does it intend eternal bliss, or does it fix an immortal smile and solemness in your face? Or does being spiritual as well as feeling the same would impart happiness and peace in your soul?

    I believe if any human could answer such questions, there would have been no pain and no sorrow……just happiness and plain smiles…..(obviously one would have got bored of such a life) Life is full of emotions (I am not trying to be philosophical), and is surely unpredictable.

    When you start relating every part of YOU to something, and every part of your soul withers, in the absence of the same, one would understand the unpredictability in life. That one thing could be anything….human, inhuman, or abstract. I also did have something….something that was more than any other material happiness….bharatanatyam. It would sound very kiddish when I say this, but when more than half of your life (13 to be precise) you have practised the dance form, it penetrates in every move of your life. For nearly 4 years I was devoid of all the natta, nritya and every other aspect of natyam. One fine day I gathered guts and went for an enquiry, the deal struck and the guru was ready to accept me as a student. There was no boundary or border for the happiness that I met with. The same day she asked me to start off, guess what, I had to start from Allaripu. This is the first dance item that you learn in bharatanatyam. The dance steps are designed in such a manner that it looks as if  a bud is flowering. Every hand and leg movement would conclude in the idea to blossom. However, I don’t know for what reasons, I have never loved it, I wouldn’t say I never “liked” it, coz every dance form has amused me in some way or other and I like all of them. So here I was with all the kiddos around, imagine there were only two who were in their college, all others were kids between 8-12 years of age, and I was standing at the back like HULK. Actual biggy in front of them. The first “tai” sent a rage of blood in my legs, and the next “taam” rushed warmth to my brains. I have never felt such satisfaction in life, a simple namaskar felt like complete surrender, surrender to the art form, or surrender to nataraja…the father of bharatanatyam. Every step and every expression on my face, only proved further the addiction to the art form.

    Some may say that it is completely wrong to be narcotic to anything. But when one can feel divine and spiritual on earth atleast for once, then why not? Why not leave all apprehensions aside and chase what you love the most? Everyone does possess a secret wish, but it never comes out of the dark room. I say let it fill your heart, break through the skin, and flaunt itself. Every dream and every wish is beautiful…….

 

 

 

 

The Great Picnic !!!

      “The Almighty gave eyes to us, to see, to adore, respect and wonder at the beauty that he carved, but he did give a vision (a tainted vision to some like me), to yearn for more, crave to see some more”…..these were my last thoughts while leaving Saguna Baug. It actually took me nearly a week to collate my thoughts and present it in this post. This one is specially for the awesome trip that we had to Saguna Baug in Neral and also for the few not so famous individuals who made it special.

       I came to know about this scenic beauty through Jui (so here again comes an appreciation for her and also a biiiiiiig thanks that she shared the idea of visiting this place with everyone at work). The way she expressed the place, tempted one and all at work to visit their site, http://www.sagunabaug.com , which again is informative and pretty clean. Still I was apprehensive, coz all that shines is not gold and all the clean floors in the pictures displayed could actually be false. But still I somehow gathered guts (does anyone think I lack in it at anycase 😛 ) and explained the whole place to my folks and sis at home. It soon become a must achieve target and a phone call confirmed the visit. So here we were all excited to visit a new place, typically a mini village and the most awaited pond house.

      We left home at about 7.00 am reached Neral by 8.45 am. Not to forget the clean, bright, green, cloudy, hilly terrains between Kalwa and Neral. Should admit that it is an experience to view the transition from Mumbai via Thane to Raigad District. Don’t know why but I had this feeling that may be Amma and Ramu, (as well as I) would not like the place. Still gave it a chance. As soon as we reached we started enquiring at nearby shops for the way to reach our destination. By then a guy signaled to us and said that he had come to recieve us. This was a great surprise, but the greatest horror was to see our vehicle of transport….a tempo (and also a lorry for some). This sounds unreal, but it is a part and parcel of village life, it seems, that is what the guide told us. It was difficult to get in the tempo, (and you must know looking at me itself there cud be “n” number of reasons for not being able to get into a tempo)…Still I did manage. And Ramu had already gone into a laughter riot with each time the tempo jumping high up in the air. I was hell frightened to watch my sister laugh, at the same time sit at the edge of the vehicle and also bounce up in the air each time there was a khadda in the road.

      We reached there and it was raining heavily already (this meant the day was already spoiled by the rain Gods). Got the keys for the pond house. The batti in my dimaag lit and ghanti in my dil rang when I saw the pond house for the first time. It was not less the typical boat house or lake houses you see in all the romantic films. (It actually reminded me of the house where surya and jyotika shoot for kaakha kaakha). The ambience was just breath taking, and to feel the flow beneath you is great. There were ducks, turkeys and different kind of birds everywhere. The view from the lake house itself was wonderful, trees, mountains, birds chirping everywhere. I had never seen green, blue and yellow coloured sparrows….it then turned out to be love birds. Can you imagine love birds out of the cage. I actually felt independence and freedom. We visited the paddy lands, learned how they actually do all the farming, though my mother was talking more than our guide (all the village effect). Then came the nursery, tulsi that tasted like mint, hibiscus of three different colours, lemon plants bore lemons of potato size. Flowers and their fragrance, still fresh in my mind. And yes the awful Gobar gas plant. We then went to the river. The most clean and chilly river. First time in my life I actually played with my mom and sis on the river bed, splashing water everywhere. We had to return by this time to our beloved lake house, took a nap. Then came the actual adventure. We went out fishing, did got hold of some. Planned to have a boat ride. All four of us, me, amma, ramu and the guide arranged ourselves onto the boat, by that time it was at the mid of the pond. And yeeee for my surprise and Ramu’s horror, the peddle din’t work. The boat drifted in the breeze and finally somehow reached near the shore in 20 minutes. Our guide jumped out at the shore and pulled the boat near. We then had a hearty laugh at it. We did visit the Emu park nearby, and gained loads of info. Best one…An Emu chooses it’s own mate and yes if it’s partner dies, it goes into depression and never chance marofies on other handsome chaps/beautiful chicks. Hehe…..But at the end we had to leave this awesome place and return with memories. Memories that would never erase.

      My frineds teased me that I should not have gone to such a romantic place with family members, but you see, romance is not an act but is abstract, in the heart. But the best part of the whole trip was to see the glitters in my mother’s and sister’s eyes. A thousand times for them, a thousand times for them, any happiness would be a pinhole without them. This day had scribled a beautiful page in my life’s diary. But, as I said earlier, The Almighty gave eyes to us, to see, to adore, respect and wonder at the beauty that he carved, but he did give a vision to yearn for more, crave to see some more”. 😀